Novel 021: Alice Price, Who Is Sylvia? (1883)

 
Augustus Leopold Egg, Unknown Woman 

Augustus Leopold Egg, Unknown Woman 

 

A virtuous young lady endures various improbable accidents and misunderstandings.

Alice Price (1840-1891) wrote seven novels between 1883 and 1892, of which this is the first.  Its plot is full of exciting surprises; its characters are well delineated.

“Few recent novels can boast of so excellent a plot, of such remarkably well-drawn characters, and of the variety of incidents that is to be found in Who is Sylvia?.”  Morning Post, February 1, 1883

“This novel may be read with genuine pleasure; it is agreeably written, and the interest is sustained to the close.”  Academy, February 3, 1883
 
“The story is not overcharged with incident, but it has more than enough to relieve it from monotony, and the execution is much above the average.  There are indications of quiet power in this novel which give ample promise for the future work of its author, and it is in itself an achievement with which its readers are more than likely to be content.”  Athenaeum, February 3, 1883

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Crossword 020: Superheroes

 
Lord Frederic Leighton - The Last Watch of Hero.jpg
 

Lord Frederic Leighton, The Last Watch of Hero

There are few areas of popular culture I know less about than superhero comic strips and the movies based on them.  In this I must be unusual, for they seem to come up frequently in crosswords, especially those in the New York Times.  “Thor” is not just a Norse god but, apparently, a superhero.  “Atom” is a diminutive superhero, “green” is superhero “ ___ Lantern”; “iron” is superhero “___ man.”   Anyway, this puzzle is my little act of protest.  It’s filled with superheroes of my own making, the sort of superheroes I’d like to read about.  22 Across, in particular, is the sort of superhero we need right now.

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020 Superheroes

Novel 020: Sir Henry Stewart Cunningham, Wheat and Tares (1860)

 
William Powell Frith, Portrait of Two Girls 

William Powell Frith, Portrait of Two Girls 

 

A brother and sister, staying at a seaside town with their uncle the archdeacon, are involved in various romantic conflicts.

Sir Henry Stewart Cunningham (1832-1920), a prominent barrister and judge, found time to write six novels between 1860 and 1894.  Here, maybe he ran out of time, for, after three hundred pages of excellent social comedy, he concludes abruptly with a hundred more of badly plotted melodrama.  The beginning and middle, however, are good enough to make up for the end.

“A capital story.  Fresh, sparkling, and cheerful as a summer’s morning”; it provides “a very faithful daguerrotype of the life in an English sea-side town.”  Christian Examiner, November, 1860

“This is a natural work.  It will please all readers, whose tastes and human feelings have not been utterly obliterated by the blood-and-thunder ‘sensation’ romances of the time.” It “has the atmosphere of truth and the vigor of sincerity, and is executed with uncommon freedom, delicacy, and skill.”  Knickerbocker, (quoting the New York Saturday Press), November, 1860

“The dialogue is unusually brilliant, natural, and easy.  The fun is quiet, subtle, and continuous; and the illustrations of hidden thoughts and the shading off of finer traits of character are at once ingenious and truthful.  But above all, it has throughout the unmistakable impress of a refined and delicate taste.  The people in it who are represented as talking in drawing-rooms talk as if they really were in drawing-rooms, and not in the gilded saloons that haunt the fancy of Bohemia.  The ladies are ladies, and the gentlemen are about as wise and foolish, as well-behaved and as ill-behaved, as gentlemen usually are.”  Saturday Review, March 1, 1862

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Novel 019: Lady Georgiana Fullerton, Grantley Manor (1847)

 
William Dyce, Christabel

William Dyce, Christabel

 

A young woman is perplexed by a man who seems and does not seem to court her, and by a half-sister who may be very good or very bad.

Lady Georgiana Fullerton (1812-1885), daughter of an earl and convert to Catholicism, wrote roughly a dozen novels between 1844 and 1883.  Though the plot here is not always plausible, it enables her to place fully realized, sympathetic characters in interesting dilemmas.

“The skill with which the plot . . . is constructed, the exquisite truth of delineation which the characters exhibit, and the intensity of passion which warms and dignifies the subject, are alike admirable. . . . The depth of passion which surrounds the story of Ginevra is the result of unquestioned genius.”  Times, August 24, 1847

“If sentimentalism is sometimes carried to a rather extravagant height, and tenderness and pathos are occasionally over-wrought, still it is impossible to deny to the work, striking and passionate scenes, exquisite and truthful delineations of English society and character, vigour and grace of language, and high intellectual power.” Ainsworth’s Magazine, July 1847

Fullerton “takes a high place among writers of modern fiction.  We have not for many a day read so charming a story. . . .  Though there is nothing violent in the nature of the interest, and weakness, not wickedness, induces the suffering, the suffering is deep enough for profoundest sympathy, and the feelings are moved and agitated to the last.  And neighbouring the pathos...we have occasional archness, simplicity, and quiet humour, the effect of which is most graceful and lovely.” Examiner, July 3, 1847

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v.1  https://archive.org/details/grantleymanortal01full

v.2  https://archive.org/details/grantleymanortal02full

v.3  https://archive.org/details/grantleymanortal03full

Crossword 018: Spatial Relations

 
Sir Laurence Alma-Tadema, A Favourite Custom

Sir Laurence Alma-Tadema, A Favourite Custom

 

As every child knows, there were nine Muses:  Calliope, Clio, Euterpe, Erato, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania.  Erato is a crossword favorite, on account of her attractive vowels.  However, Wikipedia informs us that there were originally only three Muses, representing Practice, Memory,  and Song—and I have constructed this crossword with the purpose of giving some long-overdue attention to this neglected trio, especially its second member, featured in 54 Down, which is where I began work.  I really wanted to fit in the other two—Melete and Aoide—but my theme got in the way.

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018-Spatial-Relations.puz

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018 Spatial Relations

Novel 016: Mary E. Mann, Moonlight (1898)

 
James Tissot, The Shop Girl

James Tissot, The Shop Girl

 

A young woman, daughter of a once-prosperous farmer, is forced by his bankruptcy to seek work in a shop, where she is courted by the local veterinarian.

Mary E. Mann (1848-1929) wrote nearly forty novels between 1883 and 1918. Here she provides (in just one volume)  memorable characters, an unusual setting, a bright style, and an engaging plot.

“Written in a brief, simple, unemphatic style, with never a note forced anywhere, this story yet produces a wonderfully strong effect. . . .  Commonplace persons, with average standards of conduct and quite unideal, even vulgar instincts . . . are neither rated nor made fun of; merely observed with a wise tolerance and with a tender sympathy for the joys, and the sorrows, and the weariness they share with the more gifted tithe of humanity.  This altogether uncritical yet observant attitude gives us a sense of novelty, and convinces us of the writer’s uncommon power.”  Bookman, January 1899

“An excellent style, a command of natural, crisp, and vivacious dialogue, a firm grasp of character, and a dramatic imagination.”  Speaker, February 25, 1899

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Novel 015: Theo Gift, Lil Lorimer (1885)

 
John Bagnold Burgess,  The Church Door

John Bagnold Burgess,  The Church Door

 

A young lady, neglectfully raised by her disreputable English father in Montevideo, finds herself in trying social circumstances.

Dorothy Boulger, née Havers (1847-1923) published some 17 works of fiction under the pen-name Theo Gift between 1874 and 1901.  She spent her late teens and early twenties (1861-70) in Uruguay, a setting carefully realized, along with some convincingly conflicted characters, in Lil Lorimer

“A charming and romantic novel. . . . The . . . characters are invariably lifelike. . . . The author has painted South America with a realistic fidelity.”  Morning Post, April 16, 1885

The “descriptions of Urugayan town and country life . . .have all the appearance of being reproduced from original experiences”; The plot is true “to the complex realities of life.” Graphic, May 16, 1885

“The descriptions of life in that part of South America are both instructive and entertaining. . . .  The character-drawing . . . is also good, and the plot . . . is simple and natural.  But the story depends for its interest less on dramatic episodes and startling surprises than on portrayal of character and analysis of motive.” Spectator, July 25, 1885

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v.1 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_0000000421B0#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=6&xywh=-493%2C-1%2C3557%2C2104

v.2 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_00000003C53A#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=6&xywh=-396%2C0%2C3383%2C2000

v.3 http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_00000003AEA2#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=6&xywh=-390%2C-1%2C3356%2C1985

Novel 014: Julia Rattray Waddington, Janet; or, Glances at Human Nature (1839)

 
Frank Stone, Friendship Endangered

Frank Stone, Friendship Endangered

 

An unassuming, affectionate young lady is envied by her older sister

Julia Rattray Waddington (1801-1862) wrote only four novels, all between 1838 and 1842.  This one, illustrating the passion of envy, is notable for its vivid and original characters; one of the best, a middle-aged unmarried woman living in a small town, seems possibly autobiographical

It “contains passages of feeling and sparkles of humour, subdued in tone, but still true to life.” Athenaeum, January 26, 1839

“The result of watchful observation in collecting the materials, and of much care, thought, and pains, in working them up . . . Its merits are—a nice and miniature delineation of those persons and of that life with which the mass of novel-readers are familiar; much truthfulness of dialogue; a keen but never malicious satire . . . the whole being embodied in a story which sometimes runs and never drags.” Spectator, January 26, 1839

“The story is made up of such incidents and feelings as characterize every-day life. . . . There are abundant proofs that the writer is a close observer of mankind and manners, habitually reflective, and a good natured satirist.  The dialogue is often particularly clever and effective.”Monthly Review, February, 1839

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Novel 013: B.M. Croker, Katherine the Arrogant (1909)

 
James Tissot, Without a Dowry 

James Tissot, Without a Dowry 

 

A young lady, raised in aristocratic wealth but left penniless by her heedless father, persuades an aged friend to hire her as servant and companion.

Bithia Mary Croker (1848?-1921) wrote nearly 50 novels between 1882 and 1920.  This charming post-Victorian social comedy has motorcars and electric lights.

“A good story on a theme which always attracts, the woman who has to conquer the world.” Spectator, March 27, 1909

“An excellent story; crisply and vivaciously written, and thoroughly interesting from start to finish.” Bookman, April 1909

“It is written with an appearance of ease and competency of touch tending to disarm criticism.” Athenaeum, April 17, 1909

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Novel 012: Catherine Gore, Mrs. Armytage (1836)

 
John Lavery, Elizabeth Welsh

John Lavery, Elizabeth Welsh

 

A proud, rich widow seeks to control her children.

Catherine Grace Frances Gore, née Moody (1799-1861), one of the most popular and esteemed novelists of the early Victorian period, wrote over 50 novels between 1824 and 1858.  Mrs. Armytage dates from the year before Victoria’s accession; its compelling and original main characters more than make up for some implausible plotting.

The novel provides “a capital and very agreeable picture of society in its various shades,—the trifing, scheming, laughter-and-scandal-loving exclusives; the respectable, unpretending, domestic nobility; the smaller Yorkshire squires; the family oddities which grow up in a remote provincial neighbourhood.  Most of the characters too are exceedingly well drawn,—effective yet without the exaggeration in which a more vulgar artist would have indulged.”  The style is “light, rapid, sparkling, and pointed, the combined result of natural wit, much observation of life, and considerable practice in writing.”  Spectator, July 9, 1836

Gore excels “in depth as well as nicety of observation, in the various portraiture of manners, and in the connecting with peculiar force minute traces of artifical character with strong movements of natural passion.”  Examiner, July 24, 1836

The novel shows “acute penetration into the motives by which individuals and even whole classes of society are actually though not openly impelled. . . . The character of Mrs. Armytage is conceived with delicacy and discrimination, developed and sustained with admirable consistency and effect.”  Morning Post, August 1, 1836

We “wish that Mrs. Gore could change her sex, and become M.P. for some borough . . . for she displays all the brilliant elements of one in every page. . . . Her information is abundant, her shrewdness wonderful, her tact excellent, and her perceptions of character delicate, and happy in the extreme.”  Court Magazine and Monthly Critic, February, 1837

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v.1 https://archive.org/details/mrsarmytageorfem01gore

v.2 https://archive.org/details/mrsarmytageorfem02gore

v.3 https://archive.org/details/mrsarmytageorfem03gore